Citadel's inspired rates trading hire from Goldman Sachs
Citadel, the $57bn multi-strategy hedge fund run by Ken Griffin, isn't averse to hiring people from Goldman Sachs. Pablo Salame, Goldman's ex-co-head of global markets is Citadel's chief investment officer. Philippe Derimay, a former top Goldman strat, is Citadel's head of quantitative development for the fixed income business. Andrew Philip, the New York-based CFO, was previously Goldman's chief risk officer for Europe... The list is long.
As the UK gilts market descends into chaos, though, there's one particular ex-Goldman guy who's likely to be doing especially well in Europe: Jonathan Bayliss.
Bayliss, who started his career focused on EMEA emerging markets, but who now mostly trades developed markets, was hired by Citadel from Goldman in 2019 as part of the fund's decision to boost its London macro team in response to Central Bank stimulus. At GS, he was head of macro rates and a partner at Goldman Sachs asset management.
Our sources say that Bayliss is a very well-respected, very lovely, very high integrity guy, and that he's also one of Citadel's highest performers. He likes to trade big themes and he makes a lot of money. Needless to say, a big theme is currently unfolding in the UK, and for someone like Bayliss it could be very lucrative indeed.
Bayliss is one of several hires to Citadel's macro team in recent years. Six months before it hired Bayliss, Citadel also pulled Gilberto Marcheggiano from Goldman Sachs Asset Management in London, also to trade global macro. Matthias Traut joined soon after from Tudor as head of European research for macro strategies. In August 2021, Citadel hired Johan Stralfors from Citi to trade European government bonds. More recent and more junior hires have included Indradeap Chatterjee and George Christou from JPMorgan, or Jonathan Pinder from Autonomy Capital.
Nonetheless, it's Bayliss who is understood to have been the big success, and as the UK macro situation deteriorates, his reputation as one of Citadel's top London PMs could well be reinforced.
The current situation could yet encourage more macro hiring across the City, although many local portfolio managers will be too busy for that. "I think most funds have been preparing for this for years," said one.
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